To The ‘Cosmopolitan’ Editors Who Offered Cancer As Diet Advice
This week, ‘Cosmopolitan’ published a story about beating cancer. Their title: ‘How This Woman Lost 44 Pounds Without *ANY* Exercise.’
To the editors of Cosmopolitan,
I was in middle school the first time I was congratulated for being sick. I had the flu and spent several days unable to keep food down, dizzy from my own emptiness. My mother, ever an optimist, looked for the bright side. “Maybe you’ll take off a few pounds! Couldn’t hurt not to be able to eat for a few days.”
I was 11 years old.
This was a prelude to a lifetime of kudos for my own sickness. Head colds, I was told, would dull my appetite. The flu bore all the benefits of bulimia with none of the disorder. Like so many fat children, I was primed to pray for sickness, and encouraged to long for disordered eating.
Like so many fat children, I was primed to pray for sickness.
Ten years later, I lost my grandfather to stage four lymphoma. I remember…
